“You
shall not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. Though you may have
to reprove him, do not incur sin because of him. Take no revenge and
cherish no grudge against your fellow countrymen. You shall love your neighbor
as yourself. I am the LORD.” Leviticus 19:17-18
“Then
the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my
Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a
stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for
me, in prison and you visited me.’” Matthew 25:34-36
Piety
Let us not waste this season of Lent, so favorable
a time for conversion! We ask this through the maternal intercession of the
Virgin Mary, who, encountering the greatness of God's mercy freely bestowed
upon her, was the first to acknowledge her lowliness (cf. Lk1:48)
and to call herself the Lord's humble servant (cf. Lk 1:38).
(Pope Francis)
Study
What are you going to do about it?
With today’s reading from the famous Matthew
25, once again, I can hear the story echo in homilies and reflections. You, too, have heard it before. Maybe even a priest
of deacon preached it yesterday. The angry Christian looks at the world and
says to God, “How do you allow (fill in the suffering) to happen?” God responds…”That’s why I created you.” Or “How do you?”
Nestled in this first full week of Lent, we
can look at almsgiving as one of the three things we are asked to do in this
season of preparation: fasting, prayer,
and almsgiving.
The foundational
call of Christians to charity is a frequent theme of the Gospels. During
Lent, we are asked to focus more intently on "almsgiving," which
means donating money or goods to the poor and performing other acts of
charity. As one of the three pillars of Lenten practice, almsgiving
is "a witness to fraternal charity" and "a work of justice
pleasing to God." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2462).[i]
Mike Aquilina,
writing for the Catholic Education Resource Center website says: Of the three marks of Lent — prayer,
fasting and almsgiving — almsgiving is surely the most neglected. And yet, in the
only place where the Bible brings all three together, the inspired author puts
the emphasis firmly on the last: Prayer with fasting is good. Almsgiving with righteousness is better
than wealth with wickedness. It is better to give alms than to store up gold, for almsgiving saves from
death, and purges all sin. Those who give alms will enjoy a full life, but those who commit sin and do evil are their own worst enemies. (Tobit 12:8-10).[ii]
Action
We are living high, but are we giving high? Matthew 25 prompts us to ponder, “What are
you going to do about it?” Will be with
the sheep or will we be with the goats?
We need to give to
God — whom we meet in our neighbor — until these problems go away. Our giving is symbolic of the greater giving
that defines the Christian life. As God gave himself entirely to us, so we give
ourselves entirely to Him. In the Eucharist, He holds nothing back. He gives us
His body, blood, soul and divinity — everything He has. That's the giving we
need to imitate.[iii]
Have you adopted a cause for Lent to focus
your almsgiving? Maybe it can be the CRS
Rice Bowl Collection. Maybe it can be
the Knights of Columbus 40 Cans for 40 Days initiative. Whatever, there is still time to get your
giving plan for Lent together.
Lent will prepare us for what comes next but
we have to be an active participant in that preparation.
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